


There Was A Limit

by MusicLover19



Series: Christmas Tales [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas Presents, Gen, Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 08:51:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17138738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicLover19/pseuds/MusicLover19
Summary: “Dude!” Stiles said quietly, his smile falling off his face as he looked back up to Peter, who hadn’t made a move to unwrap his gift. “The price limit was twenty dollars,” he croaked. “I know you heard it. I told you.”“I’m a rebel,” Peter said blandly, which made Stiles snort with laughter.





	There Was A Limit

**Author's Note:**

> I have another Christmas Story which I did today, I'm just getting someone to look it over and no doubt that'll be posted in a few hours.

Stiles watched with unabashed glee as the whole pack sat on the floor around him. They were uncomfortable, he knew this, it was obvious to see. Stiles needed the sense of family around him. It had hurt to be forgotten, knowing that his dad didn’t remember him, that his friends didn’t remember him. It was worse than Stiles wanted to admit. _Seeing_ his dad and having him not remember him was a pain Stiles would never forget. Sure, he still had moments where he would panic at the confusion in his friends' eyes and worry he was being taken again. So he needed this.

It was a shame his dad and Jordan were working, but they hadn’t been bullied into the secret Santa either, so it was understandable. The others, however, hadn’t had a choice. Even Peter, who was sulking against the wall behind the teenagers, only in Stiles’ sight line. Stiles hadn’t thought the older man would come, it had been a pleasant surprise to see.

“We are gathered here today,” Stiles began with the holiest voice he could bring himself to use.

“Stiles,” Scott huffed.

Stiles’ grin didn’t falter, not at the tone, nor the rolls of eyes around the room. He was just thrilled to hear his name from their lips, to have them see him and acknowledge him.

“Come on, let me have my fun!”

Peter shook his head, a small smirk on his face. Being taken and having Peter in the same situation had truly changed Stiles’ opinion of the man. Sure, he wasn’t the _best_ , just like he wasn’t the _healthiest_ person Stiles knew, but they got along. They had before the Wild Hunt, but Peter had been more reserved, making Stiles a little more guarded around him. Since they had worked together, and since Peter had trusted Stiles to get them free, it was as if something had changed. There wasn’t the hesitance between them, Peter was more willing to indulge in Stiles’ antics. This pack meeting proving.

“So it’s a few days to Christmas, and everyone refused to meet _on_ Christmas,” Stiles said, bringing the group back on track. “Most of you refused meeting tomorrow -”

“Because it’s Christmas Eve,” Liam pointed out.

“So we are here,” Stiles continued on, ignoring Liam’s interruptions without a second thought. “To reveal who had who for the Secret Santa - Werewolf Edition.” Stiles raised his hands in a ‘ta-da’ motion and frowned at the lack of applause that it received. “I said -”

“Did you really have a ‘werewolf edition’ added on the end?” Lydia asked, and it hit him that she hadn’t been around for Stiles’ plans. Not the true planning anyhow. He had ridiculous names for each and every one of them; Scott, Alpha, School Showdown (formally known as SASS), Mexico Madness, or even Freedom (he hadn’t been too creative with escaping the Wild Hunt, but it still worked).

“It’s what he does,” Peter added, looking even more bored as all eyes turned to him. “He rambles and picks stupid names, we shouldn’t be surprised.”

“I am hurt,” Stiles raised a hand to his heart. “I thought you loved me, we bonded in that train station,” he continued, fighting his grin back at the horrified glances around the room. “We cried and laughed and hugged. Then you throw this in my face. As if I will ever trust you again.”

“Oh, woe is me,” Peter drawled, “how will I ever survive. Who will lose this weekend when they take over my apartment?”

“Hey, I beat you last week and you know it!” Stiles huffed. “And the week before that!”

Needing a little downtime, Stiles had found himself raiding Peter’s apartment each weekend, typically a Saturday morning. To start with, they hadn’t done much, Stiles would read and Peter would glower in the kitchen until he left. It turned into Peter leaving out particular books he thought Stiles would enjoy. One particular day that Stiles couldn’t focus, Peter had sighed and pulled out a board game. The two had played a couple of times, laughing and feeling more carefree than either had felt in years. They kept the tradition up, meeting at the weekend and playing silly games against each other. Stiles’ favourite was chess, as cliche as that was, it was always fun to play against Peter, who was as good as he bragged. They were evenly matched. Most games were a gamble on who would win. As older as Peter was, he was thrilled at the challenge Stiles gave when the games were brought out. Scrabble was always a pain, with Stiles happily bring out Polish words as well as obscure ones no one had heard of in decades. Clue was equally as frustrating since Stiles never seemed to need half of the clues before he was eagerly offering up the correct answer. It was _fun_.

“Can we get on with it?” Malia asked. “I still have to get some things.”

“You left it this late?” Mason seemed truly sickened at the thought. “It’s going to be busy.”

“I know what I need, it’ll take a minute,” Malia shrugged.

“You’ll be eaten in no time,” Mason argued.

Theo rolled his eyes, and Stiles stopped himself twitching at the reminder of the other teen. As un-evil as Theo was, it still didn’t make Stiles like him. Or trust him. Why everyone had decided Theo wasn’t evil, he didn’t know. Stiles did acknowledge that he had missed a lot though, so he was willing to give the brat a chance.

“Secret Santa!” Stiles said loudly, drawing the attention back onto him. “We’re doing it. Who wants to go first?”

There was silence in the room, and Stiles couldn’t help but scoff. Of course, they were all hesitant.

“Scott, you’re the Alpha,” Lydia said sweetly.

“Ah, right, um,” Scott shifted uncomfortably when the attention moved to him. “I had Corey and I didn’t really know what to get so - yeah, here you go.”

Scott, the lovable idiot, Stiles couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his friends babbling. It was silly, and unlike him on most days. Corey didn’t seem to mind, he reached out with a smile and took the small box with a thank you.

“Wait!” Stiles said quickly. “Are we opening them in turn or do you want to do it all together? That way we can not worry about reactions?”

“Good point,” Liam nodded, and the rest of the group seemed to agree. “We’ll just pass them out now then? I had Theo.”

Theo took the present and passed his own out to Scott. Corey offered up his, which was for Heather. Heather’s was for Lydia. Lydia had gotten Mason. Mason had Malia, and Malia had picked Liam.

“Looks like we’re the ones left,” Peter pointed out, nodding to Stiles.

With a loud hoot, Stiles leapt from the floor, passing Peter’s present over eagerly. He had picked it out as soon as the name had been chosen - in fact, Stiles had purposely kept Peter’s name aside, knowing that none of the others would take his gift seriously. Stiles was rather glad that Peter had gotten his name too, it made it a little more fun to open the present, which could have been anything.

“Go for it!” Stiles grinned, already unwrapping the overly neat paper around the present. It was a weighty box, and rather large compared to the others, so it could be anything, and Stiles wasn’t a patient person.

“Dude!” Stiles said quietly, his smile falling off his face as he looked back up to Peter, who hadn’t made a move to unwrap his gift. “The price limit was twenty dollars,” he croaked. “I know you heard it. I told you.”

“I’m a rebel,” Peter said blandly, which made Stiles snort with laughter. He couldn’t stop himself as soon as the dam was burst, he was giggling to himself, as he glanced between Peter and his present. The more he thought about it, the more hilarious it was, _of course,_ Peter wouldn’t listen. When did he ever listen? He still stubbornly made Stiles pick a game each week even when it was his turn. This was just too much, and the absurdity of it all was more than Stiles could handle.

“Is that -?”

“That’s a good fucking laptop,” Mason pointed out.

Stiles’ giggles, which had begun to subside, had kicked up again at full force at the acknowledgement. He knew it was a good laptop, it had been one of the ones Stiles had considered before resigning himself. None of the pack knew about the FBI programme, he had told Peter - of course, he had. He had used Peter as a sounding board when he had gotten the information. He hadn’t been sure but Peter had told him to try. Stiles had only just heard back. He had a place. He hadn’t even managed to tell Peter that yet.

“You needed an upgrade,” Peter said with a shrug when Stiles finally got himself under control. “I got sick of hearing your hard drive scream. It’s only a matter of time until it dies on you and I’m not letting you use mine again.”

“Thank you,” Stiles breathed, the words barely audible. “I’m not even sorry for getting you something else now,” he added with a grin.

Along with Peter’s new Monopoly game (purposely made for cheaters - it even had a pair of handcuffs in the box!), he had gotten the wolf a semi-hideous sweater vest and a new blanket. He had made sure it was the softest one he could find, knowing Peter’s preference of them. Overall, Secret Santa was a success.


End file.
